Chapter 141: Peeping

“I’m really jealous of you, and I truly, truly hate your presence………………”

Chi Yingyu took a deep breath, suppressing the unpleasant feelings in her heart. Xu Ruobing had never done anything wrong from beginning to end; on the contrary, she had always been helping her brother-in-law, treating him exceedingly well.

Chi Yingyu knew very well that her dislike for Xu Ruobing was merely the childish competitiveness in her heart.

“Xu Ruobing, your perfection is almost blinding to me. Compared to you, I fall short in every aspect.”

Looks, abilities, even the chance of being together with her brother-in-law—Xu Ruobing had her beat by a mile in every regard. Still, Chi Yingyu couldn’t accept it. She’d liked her brother-in-law for so long, and only recently mustered the courage to confess her feelings. So why did she have to face such a painful reality now?

“But do you know how long I’ve liked Jiang Lai? The years Jiang Lai and I have shared are something you couldn’t even imagine. I hate anyone who tries to come between me and Jiang Lai.”

Chi Yingyu had sworn long, long ago that she would never leave her brother-in-law, that she would treasure Jiang Lai all her life and stay by her side at every moment.

Chi Yingyu understood that no matter how hard she tried to let go, she would never be able to leave her brother-in-law—because there was no one else in the world like Jiang Lai. “If you’re willing to never see Jiang Lai again, and to give up any inappropriate thoughts about her, I would be truly grateful. If there’s ever anything you need from me, I will do everything I can to help you.”

It was true that Chi Yingyu didn’t like Xu Ruobing, but everything Xu Ruobing did made her hard to truly dislike her.

“I really do admire you. But about this, I can’t promise you anything. In the end, it all depends on Jiang Jiang’s wishes; my words don’t count.”

Xu Ruobing did, in fact, admire Chi Yingyu in this moment. To be able to say all this so frankly meant she wasn’t an inherently awful person.

“But do you really think you don’t have a chance at all?”

Xu Ruobing detested this kind of defeatist mindset. If you truly loved someone, anything was possible. “Since you’ve held on to these feelings for so long, why not keep fighting alongside me? What’s the harm in that?

Besides, I’m not as great as you say. No one can ever completely outshine another person; everyone has strengths that others can’t match. You should have more confidence.”

Though Xu Ruobing and Chi Yingyu were rivals in love, at least for tonight, she wanted only to encourage her.

“You don’t understand what I want to say……………

When Chi Yingyu pursued her feelings, the obstacles she faced were something Xu Ruobing could never imagine—after all, Jiang Lai was her elder sister’s husband.

“Go to bed early tonight. It’s late, and there’s no need for us to keep talking.”

Chi Yingyu truly worried that if she continued speaking with Xu Ruobing, her jealousy would only get worse. Not wanting to lose control, she decided to go to the living room to calm herself down.

Xu Ruobing didn’t think much as she watched Chi Yingyu leave the bedroom. She lay back down on her pillow, her mind replaying the words Chi Yingyu had just said: “I don’t understand, huh……………

Compared to the warm bedroom, the chilly living room brought calm to Chi Yingyu, who’d been teetering on the edge of an emotional outburst. At least now, she was less impulsive and her words were less extreme.

Chi Yingyu planned to just stay in the living room, feeling the cool air to calm herself. Once she was completely calm, she’d return to her bedroom and try to sleep.

But as she wandered aimlessly in the living room, she accidentally found herself at her brother-in-law’s bedroom door. She hadn’t meant to come here, but she couldn’t help wanting to know what her brother-in-law was doing. Was she also lying awake, or had she fallen asleep already?

Chi Yingyu pressed her ear to the door, hoping to catch any subtle noises and guess what was going on inside. The room was utterly quiet; she listened carefully for a long time, but didn’t hear a single sound.

Her brother-in-law must have already fallen asleep……………….

With that thought, Chi Yingyu couldn’t help placing her hand on the bedroom doorknob, hesitating in her heart about whether to push the door open for a peek at her brother-in-law sleeping. Suddenly, a soft, delicate sound came from inside.

If she hadn’t been so attuned to her brother-in-law’s voice, Chi Yingyu would have missed that faint sound entirely.

Relying on that little sound, Chi Yingyu was certain her brother-in-law wasn’t asleep. So what was she doing in there?

Hurrying to the living room, Chi Yingyu grabbed one of her own paper cards and returned to Jiang Lai’s bedroom door. She’d read about this trick online: to avoid making loud noises with the Lock Latch when opening the door, you could slide a card in first. With something wedged against the latch, it wouldn’t snap suddenly.

Following this method, Chi Yingyu quietly opened the door just a crack, her gaze slipping through the gap to the bed inside. The bedroom lights were off, but the bed was illuminated by the bright glow of a phone screen, which flashed with moving images.

It looked like her brother-in-law was watching TV. But if she was just watching TV, why had that noise come earlier?

Chi Yingyu was dying of curiosity about what Jiang Lai was playing on her phone, but with only the narrow view through the crack, she couldn’t see much at all.

Her curiosity got the better of her, and without realizing it, she pushed the door open all the way. The Magnetic Catch on the door frame immediately latched onto the wall with a click.

The noise wasn’t loud, but in the quiet bedroom, it sounded as startling as something breaking, grabbing everyone’s attention.

Even Jiang Lai, who’d been absorbed in her phone, snapped to attention, hurriedly turned off the bright screen, took off her headphones, and sat up straight on the bed, eyes fixed on the doorway.

But just as she thought nothing was wrong, Jiang Lai’s phone blared an utterly embarrassing line—a hoarse woman’s voice saying, “Harder………………”

Before the scene could finish playing, Jiang Lai slammed her finger onto the mute button.

The bedroom fell into an incredibly awkward silence, but inside, Jiang Lai was screaming for help—she’d been caught watching something indecent. What now?